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Last year the campaign served 800 students in occupied Palestine.
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VIENNA — The Palestinian League in Austria has launched its annual campaign to raise funds for Palestinian students ahead of the next academic year to encourage them to pursue their education despite hardships and obstacles under the Israeli occupation.
"The School Bag campaign aims at supporting Palestinian students in the face of destruction of infrastructure, arrest of juveniles and blockades by the Israeli occupation army," League Secretary General Adel Abdallah told IslamOnline.net on Monday, July 10.
Abdallah said education is one of the mightiest weapons Palestinians can have against the Israeli military juggernaut.
"We want to see a generation of well-educated Palestinians despite the continued Israeli blockade."
Other Palestinian charities in Europe followed suit and launched similar campaigns in their respective countries.
In April, Austrian Muslims launched a fund-raising campaign for the Palestinian people worst hit by international aid freeze after the Hamas-led government assumed office in March.
The "Let's Support for Our Besieged Brothers" campaign premises on donating one hundred euros per month for every Palestinian family.
Remittances
Each school bag contains what students might need throughout the academic year and costs nearly 25 euros.
The charity, launched 15 years ago, raised last year 8,600 euros for the campaign, serving up to 800 students in the occupied Palestinian territories.
"Money reaches Palestinian charities operating in the territories in the form of remittances," Abdallah explained.
He said his charity further caters for Palestinian refugees in Arab countries, though the lion's share of donations goes to the people in occupied Palestine.
"Many Austrians have showed solidarity with our cause," added Abdallah, noting that Austrians donated either through ban accounts or mosques, calling them the "first defense line" of the Palestinians.
Muslims are estimated at 400,000, making up 4% of Austria's 8 million population.
Islam, which was officially acknowledged in Austria in 1912, is considered the second religion in the country after Catholic Christianity.
Donations are expected to double to support the Palestinians in their current distress.
Israel launched a wide-scale open-ended offensive in the Gaza Strip on June 28 under the pretext of releasing a soldier taken prisoner in an operation claimed by three Palestinian resistance factions.
Up to 47 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed so far in the Israeli onslaught.
The Islamic Religious Authority, the Muslims' main representative body in Austria, issued on Sunday, July 9, a strongly-worded statement, scolding Israel for the atrocities committed against the Palestinians.
It urged the Austrian government and the European Union to intervene and press Israel into allowing aid stuffs for the Palestinians.
UN aid agencies have sharply criticized Israel for its ongoing offensive in the impoverished Gaza Strip, warning that civilians were bearing the brunt of Israel's aggressive juggernaut.
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